


Show Me the Way to Go Home

by bitochondria



Series: Jaws 2: I Saved a Massachusetts Town and All I Got was a Prescription for Valium [2]
Category: Jaws (Movies)
Genre: Boston, Drinking, Fan Comics, Fanart, Friends to Lovers, Hooper and Brody are terrible at picking up each other's signals, Kissing, M/M, Marijuana, Mutual Pining, Post-Canon, Smoking, also I hope you all use my terrible hockey metaphor for bisexuality forever
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2020-02-06
Packaged: 2020-02-15 17:55:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 0
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18674620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bitochondria/pseuds/bitochondria
Summary: Almost a year has passed since the Amity Incident, and despite not having spoken in months, Matt Hooper has convinced Martin Brody to visit for the weekend. They discuss their respective trauma and make a valiant attempt at self-medication. They fail miserably at flirting with one another. Martin tries to get Matthew to understand that he's a fan of the Rangers AND the Bruins.





	1. Title Page

**Author's Note:**

> Why I decided, 'yes, what the world needs is a dialogue-heavy romance comic about the two surviving leads of 1975 summer blockbuster Jaws' will forever be a mystery, but behold the fruits of my labor of immense, perhaps misplaced love. Matthew Hooper and Martin Brody are in love, they just don't realize it yet. Intended to be both canon (if you, like me, believe only one movie called Jaws was ever made) compliant and more or less 1970's Boston compliant. Ask me about the Combat Zone! 
> 
> Anyway Jaws is gay and so is Hooper. 
> 
> Cheers.


	2. Page 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, if you want some context for what's going on, read [Life Preserver,](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18664399) which sets up the post-Amity Incident relationship Hooper and Brody are starting from. Long story short: it's April, a year later, and they're both exceptionally unhappy shark boys. Also, bear with me, because I hadn't nailed down how to draw these two consistently at the point that I drew this page. I don't know if I will ever draw their glasses consistently. 
> 
> This first scene is set at the New England Aquarium, where Hooper really wishes he wasn't working.
> 
> Aquarium Facts:
> 
> *The NEA was not the first aquarium in Boston– that honor goes to the Boston Aquarial Gardens, opened in 1859, which was actually the first aquarium in the country (possibly the world? I got some conflicting answers on this).
> 
> *Myrtle the turtle, one of the aquarium’s best known residents, came to the NEA in 1970 and has remained there since.
> 
> *The Giant Ocean Tank, the aquarium’s most recognizable feature, is so large that the rest of the aquarium was actually built around it. It’s four stories tall and was, at the time, the largest circular ocean tank in the world.
> 
> *If the sharks seem to be missing, they might be in Quincy. They go there on vacation sometimes, especially if there’s a breakout of parasites in the tank.
> 
> *[Enjoy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddBt5p-Uqew&feature=youtu.be) this vintage commercial and immerse yourself in the 70’s.


	3. Page 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder wasn’t added to the DSM until 1980, and the dissociative subtype not until 2013. Outside of this particular incident, Hooper’s gloomy upper-class sardonic wisecracking would almost certainly read as “neurosis” in 1975. Which is a long-winded way of saying “experiencing a dissociative episode as a result of trauma in the mid seventies would not be treated with much or any seriousness and you’d definitely be on your own after exploding a shark.”


	4. Page 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That cool fun moment where you realize the guy you’re awkwardly attracted to but who is safely unavailable and therefore you don’t have to think too hard about it is, in fact, available, and now you have to think about it and Uh Oh
> 
> Today's Fun 70's Facts:
> 
> Benzodiazepines like Valium did often used to get prescribed for stress and anxiety disorders, which is generally a bad idea, because they tend to exacerbate the symptoms of such issues. So, while I wouldn’t recommend self-medicating with drugs and alcohol, Hooper is in fact unintentionally stumbling into the correct choice, here. As a rich kid growing up in the 60’s, he also would probably associate Valium with his parents’ miserable housewife friends.
> 
> On the “when is this actually going to get gay” side, I like to think that Hooper was pretty immediately smitten with Brody when they first met, but backed off very quickly upon meeting Ellen (he totally brought two bottles of wine to Brody’s house that first night in the hopes of getting some. He was confused and dismayed when a previously unmentioned wife opened the door.) So now he’s in a position where “having to figure out if he is at all interested in men, let alone me” is now back on the table.
> 
> And, y'know, that whole “how soon is too soon to hit on a recent divorcée” thing.
> 
> (Ellen is fine, by the way. She goes back to work in NY and meets a nice childless widower whom she eventually marries. Occasionally they all go on very awkward family vacations together.)


	5. Page 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's not flirting if there's plausible deniability, right?
> 
> I feel like Brody’s disenchantment with living in NYC could be more than just work-related; perhaps the stress of living in the city and working as a New York cop was starting to put a strain on their marriage, as well. The move to Amity was intended as a fresh start, but obviously didn’t work out as intended.
> 
> Anyway, watch as from here on in, these two idiots fail miserably at picking up on one another’s signals! Sooo awkward. So, so, awkward.
> 
> (Also, I hate this font and its weird floating periods. It changes around page 11 or 12, but apologies until then.)


	6. Page 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boxy floral pull-out couches are IN, as is drunkenly telling your friend you want to watch burlesque with them.
> 
> Today's Fun Boston in the 1970's Trivia:
> 
>   * South of Boston Common and pressed up against Chinatown, along the lower part of Washington and LaGrange Street, Boston used to be home to a notorious red light district called the Combat Zone. Chock-a-block with burlesque shows, adult shops, prostitution and also, unfortunately ~*SERIOUS VIOLENT CRIME*~, Boston politicians tried for years to legislate the district out of existence. They failed, but the eventual existence of the porn rental industry succeeded, and the area is now largely devoid of both debauchery and stabbings. In 1975, however, the porn flowed like molasses through the North End. Hooper lives nearby.
>   * The drag bar near Hooper’s apartment is real, and still exists today. Boston’s LGBTQ bar scene is pretty reduced from its heyday, but Jacques’ has been operating since the 40’s.
>   * There’s no question in my mind that Hooper’s couch is 100% the color of [this fridge set](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2f/fd/eb/2ffdeb1d823f8677c007e589ba27536c.jpg) with marigold and salmon flowers. His carpet is, naturally, burnt orange. Seventies colors make for a great monochrome comic.
>   * If you’re hoping the next page is going to involve some kind of porno setup where it’s all “oh no, I’ll have to sleep naked, then,” prepare to be disappointed. They’re both way too clueless and awkward for that nonsense.
> 



	7. Page 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know how to draw a record player and I'm pretty sure Hoop is not holding that record safely.
> 
> Anyway it’s really only like a 20-30min walk from the Bay Village to the Aquarium, but they’re super drunk, and the trains stop running pretty early in Boston. Now it's time for Bob Dylan to serenade our intrepid Shark Boyfriends with songs about his estrangement from his wife.
> 
> Wait. That's, uh... hmm. Maybe Blood on the Tracks is the wrong choice for this particular juncture?


	8. Page 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ~~Jaws~~ Boat Gay Logs:   
> 
> 
>   * I honestly don’t think it’s a great idea to make Sexy Decisions when you’re both drunk and stoned. But these two dopes aren’t going to get anywhere without a little chemical assistance because it’s the seventies and they’re both dealing with trauma and good ol’ internalised cultural homophobia
>   * I am *reasonably* certain all the queer lit on Hooper’s side table had been published in the US before ‘75, but if my research failed me, just assume Hooper used his Nantucket Money to import anything that hadn’t been yet.
>   * So the question, then: those sure are a lot of gay books. Am I headcanonning Hooper as gay, or as bi? …yes.
>   * Also, the follow up question: if Hooper doesn’t know whether Brody is into dudes, why would he leave out Gay Shit? I leave it up to you whether he just forgot (he is sort of preoccupied, after all), or that he assumes Brody won’t actually recognize it as gay if he is in fact straight, or if it's just kind of a 'Hope just Springs Eternal' gambit. Maybe it's all three! 
> 



	9. Page 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very platonic face-touching and cuddling between highly sober guy pals.
> 
> The ~~Jaws~~ Boat Gay Logs:
> 
>   * Okay I really love this page even though it’s way, way too busy (what’s new). There’s nothing in the universe more satisfying than drawing shmoopy cuddly bullshit.
>   * I guess this is the version of Jaws rated R for bad language? But you can’t tell me that’s not how these characters would have talked if they weren’t from a PG film. It's the mid-fucking-seventies, after all.
>   * So they're going to push the security guard in the tank. Does the New England Aquarium actually HAVE an on duty daytime security guard? I’ve never looked. I guess next time I go I’ll keep my eyes peeled for the FISH POLICE
>   * So like... when I was first scripting this out in my head, before I had even written anything down, this page was actually pretty close to where things ended? They got high and kissed and were like “thank you lowered inhibitions” and that was the end of it… buuuut… I don’t know, I just wasn’t really happy leaving room for plausible deniability like that. My kink is healthy, communicative relationships based on mutual trust and a strong foundation of friendship, so INSTEAD I had to write twenty more pages of pining and awkwardness. Yes, they're both so clueless that even this is still a 'wait, is this how friends smoke pot together? It must be' moment. : ' D I’m the worst! 
> 



	10. Page 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ~~Jaws~~ Boat Gay Logs:
> 
>   * Another page of cuddly nonsense, complete with awkward stoned hair touching. So smooth, Martin, so smooth.
>   * I tried very, very hard to figure out what plays were running in Boston in April of ‘75 but as it turns out there is almost no information about such things on the internet, and I am not QUITE crazy enough to go sort through microfilm for the purpose of a Jaws fancomic. I'm pretty sure Jesus Christ Superstar was at least touring that year, so let's go with that.
>   * I watched the French Connection at some point while I was thumbnailing the original outline of the whole comic (full disclosure, I watched a bunch of movies with Scheider and Dreyfuss that week. I pretended it was to get their facial expressions down but really I was just hyperfixating) and decided that among the reasons Martin wanted to get out of NYC, he may possibly have had a partner like Jimmy Doyle and was more than ready to never deal with City Cops again. LET’S ALL YELL ABOUT HEROIN AND COMMIT POLICE BRUTALITY or, uhhh, y'know, move to a small island and pretend none of that ever happened.
>   * I like to believe that Martin eventually becomes a member of the parks service and teaches kids stuff on the Freedom Trail.
> 



	11. Page 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ~~Jaws~~ Boat Gay Logs:
> 
>   * I think we all need to go back to the mid-70's when everyone wore really, really tiny shorts.
>   * So it wouldn't be until a year later that the Rolling Stone interview that sort-of-outed Elton John came out; I won't pretend I can be 100% certain the extent to which his sexuality was still in just-rumors territory in 1975. It sounds like if you were queer, you kinda knew? And that there were definitely rumors, and that within the music industry it was kind of an open secret. And in hindsight, it's kind of like, how did people NOT know...? But on the other hand, I also know that lots of people have said it was a huge shock (I mean, it was covered by Walter Cronkite on the evening news-- clearly not everyone knew) and there was a bit of a dip in his record sales for a time after that. (Anecdotally, my father was a huge Elton John fan more or less up until he officially came out as gay in the late 80's post divorcing Renate Blauel. Same with a bunch of his straight friends.) So, poor Sir Elton is being dragged into this conversation as a bit of a 'Friends of Dorothy' litmus. Sorry, Reg.
>   * Brody's favorite song on Honky Chateau is Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters, but he keeps that on the down low because he's a NY cop and well. Roses growing in Spanish Harlem and all that. He had an image to uphold. Hooper prefers Madman Across the Water, although Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player is a close second. 
> 



	12. Page 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ~~Jaws~~ Boat Gay Logs:
> 
>   * That awkward moment when both of you think, 'wait, did that mean what I think it meant?' And you almost come to an understanding but... no, it couldn't be. Ha ha, must be the weed, amirite!
>   * I honestly didn't do my due diligence on this one and just kind of assumed Elton John would have had some shows that needed security in NYC by this time period. Thankfully I guessed right! Maybe it was the '71 Carnegie Hall performance? Lucky Martin.
>   * I don't know why I really like the idea of Matthew singing, but it seems like he would be one of those people who just bursts into song sometimes. (I mean, I guess there's a reason I decided "Show Me the Way to Go Home" would be the comic's title.) I feel like maybe it's because Richard Dreyfuss was, despite not being a particularly accomplished musician, more than once called upon to sing in his various roles...?
> 



	13. Page 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ~~Jaws~~ Boat Gay Logs:
> 
>   * _Someone_ managed to take his glasses off before passing out. Someone else probably has to readjust his frames every three weeks because he never manages to go to sleep in his pajamas.
>   * So are they going to talk about what happened last night? Hell no.
>   * I cannot imagine the damage one must do to their spinal column falling asleep like that on a 70's pull-out couch.
> 



	14. Page 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ~~Jaws~~ Boat Gay Logs:
> 
>   * Endless apologies and repentance for the thirty year hiatus between this and the previous page. Long story short, in the flesh world I teach, and this year I switched to a new grade and a subject I've never taught before, and I was also put in charge of mentoring a new teacher and running part of a major club, so, uh, I have not a lot of time to draw gay shark fanart. Lo siento and mi dispiace and I will do better next time!
>   * But like, what you actually came here for: oh no. Oh no man, we're being domestic. Bro, what if I like, kiss you goodbye before you leave for work? Is it gay if you leave a note in your best pal's lunchbox telling him you love him and can't wait 'til he gets home? I suggest holding hands over a candlelight dinner as a cool activity for besties.
>   * I think it's important to inform you all that I spent a REALLY, REALLY long time debating whether Hooper would have a percolator because he has no self-respect, or a fancy-schmancy new drip coffee maker because he has money to throw around. I decided percolator was sadder.
> 



	15. Page 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ~~Jaws~~ Boat Gay Logs:
> 
>   * HE'S FLIRTING WITH YOU, HOOPER. YOU ARE JUST STUPID.
>   * Hooper is reading _P.S. Your Cat is Dead_ , a fantastically weird little novel by the legendary James Kirkwood Jr., which is about the random cruelty of the universe turning one man's life into a complete farce in New Year's Eve in New York City. He also has a LOT of belligerent sexual tension with the man who is robbing his house. A... less than stellar movie was made in 2002 that toned down the very fanficcy enemies to lovers implication, but the book is great.
>   * Did I look up shirtless pictures of Roy Scheider before drawing this page, and then immediately feel TERRIBLE about it? Yes. Did I pause that fight scene in Marathon man where he's half naked trying to garrote a dude and realize, 'what the fuck, Roy Scheider was weirdly ripped,' and then continue to feel terrible? Also yes. Do I still feel like a creep for having looked this up? So much yes. I apparently have a lot of scruples when it comes to ogling deceased actors I respect.
> 



	16. Page 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ~~Jaws~~ Boat Gay Logs:
> 
>   * How can you tell if a man is flirting with you? Well, if he seems to be offering to MOVE TO BE WITH YOU, you might want to consider that yes, he's flirting with you.
>   * Brody went to JOHDAN MAHSH to get some spiffy THEATAH clothes. For those of you who weren't alive in Boston before the 90's, Jordan Marsh was a department store known for a lot of pretty wacky stuff, like the Enchanted Village-- a yearly animatronic Christmas display that took up an entire floor of the department store. It was like a little bit of Disney World right in Downtown Crossing. They also had their own bakery (known for their blueberry muffins), and showcased art and music throughout the store. Alas, they were bought out in the late 90's and mostly replaced with Macy's stores.
>   * Did I make my husband pose down by the Aquarium for this? Yes.
> 



	17. Page 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ~~Jaws~~ Boat Gay Logs:
> 
>   * It's sadboy hours up in this marina.
>   * Hooper seems like he'd be the kind of person who would dump a whole lot of emotional baggage down by accident and then suddenly need to BACK THE FUCK UP and make light of it. Brody seems like the type who would not be very good at processing that kind emotional whiplash. : / 
>   * I know smoking is bad but. Goddamn if it isn't a GREAT WAY TO POSE HANDS, and also fictional characters look so stupidly hot doing it.
> 



End file.
